A wide variety of absorbent structures, devices or appliances configured for the absorption of body fluids such as menses, blood, urine, and the like are well known. Disposable products of this type generally comprise some sort of good permeable topsheet or cover material, an absorbent core, and a fluid-impermeable baffle material.
Traditionally, all sanitary napkins have suffered from "distortion failures." These failures generally result because sanitary napkins are not three-dimensionally shaped and are not made to continuously dynamically conform to the perineal and vulva areas of the wearer, particularly when the wearer is in motion. Generally, the torque forces exerted on the side of the napkin distort the discharge target area on the face of the napkin and may provide a substantial number of napkin failures due to the angle at which the menses strikes the distorted surface.
Furthermore, positioning a sanitary napkin relative to the body of the wearer is an important consideration. In the early years, napkins were affixed about the body wearer by means of a belt or tab. Over the last decade or so, sanitary napkins have now routinely been secured within or to the undergarment of the user. One drawback of the current napkins is that movement, particularly vigorous movement such as, rapid walking or running, yields motion between the body of the wearer relative to the undergarment. Securing a sanitary napkin to the wearer's undergarment, therefore, translates under ordinary circumstances into relative motion between the wearer's body and the napkin itself. This movement typically causes the sanitary napkin to acquire an undesirable shape, such as bunching, twisting, roping, etc. which adversely affects the sanitary napkin's performance. More specifically, movement and particularly vigorous movement yields motion between the wearer's body, and particularly within the vulvar region, relative to the undergarment. In turn this can lead to heightened discomfort due to chafing, rubbing and perhaps even more intense irritation about highly sensitive tissues of the wearer. Now a sanitary napkin assembly has been invented which overcomes these disadvantages.